Voltages are really only measured between two points. You can say that the voltage between points A and B is 12V, and the voltage between C and D is 9V.
But that becomes tiresome after a while. It makes life easier if you pick a point in the circuit, and declare that to be at 0V. By convention, the Earth is at 0V, but not all circuits are earthed. For a battery-powered circuit, you just pick a point of your choosing. That point is normally called "Ground" (or "Gnd" for short).
Having declared one point to be 0V, you can measure the voltage from there to any other point, and give the voltage at that point.
In the picture you added above, Ground is the point where the two batteries are connected. Which means that the positive terminal of the left battery must be at 9V.
The negative terminal of the right battery is 9V below it's positive terminal, and its positive terminal is at 0V. Which means the negative terminal must be at -9V.
If the negative terminal of the right battery was instead chosen as Ground, the voltages would instead be (from right to left) 0V, +9V and +18V.
The electrons don't care how we have chosen to label the voltages. Conventional current always flows from the more positive terminal to the more negative one. The electrons always flow from the more negative terminal to the more positive one.
One use for negative voltages is in audio power amplifiers. If you ground one terminal of a loudspeaker and connect a positive voltage to the other, the speaker cone moves one way. If you connect a negative voltage instead, the cone moves the other way. To get the full travel of the cone, you need to have both positive and negative voltages in your power supply. (Actually, a lot of small amplifiers just use a positive supply, and a capacitor, but for high-power amplifiers, having positive and negative power rails is better.)